The Insider

Nothing has been signed, but the word is that Bruce Willis may be getting as much as $16 million to make Die Hard 3. Conversations with a number of sources lead us to believe the deal for a third Die Hard is not far off.

Willis will not comment on the DH3 deal, but, yes, that was him beaming away at last month's Republican National Convention in Houston. Is Willis a Bush man? A source close to him says Willis is "an independent who supports George Bush and believes in the direction Bush is taking the country."

That's news to us and to some who have known him in the past. Cybill Shepherd, Willis's costar on Moonlighting, and Glenn Gordon Caron, Moonlighting's creator and executive producer, both say they never remember him discussing his feelings—positive or negative—concerning any political candidate.

IF THE HISSY FIT FITS...

Shannen Doherty may not play a brat on TV, but she can behave like one in real life. We hear from a source who was there that the Beverly Hills, 90210 star, scheduled to present an Emmy with fellow 90210-er Jennie Garth and Full House's John Stamos, threw a semi-tantrum at a rehearsal because she thought she didn't have enough lines and objected to Garth's getting to speak first. Later, Doherty made a fuss over her seats, and when better tickets were not forthcoming, left the Emmys altogether.

Her reps say Doherty had tried in vain to contact the Emmys' director ahead of time to discuss her role on the show. After failing to come to agreement at the rehearsal, they say, it was decided "that it was in everyone's best interest that [Doherty] not participate this year."

ROB LOWE, ACTION MAN

We told you in last week's column that Rob Lowe had no interest in writing his autobiography, even though his agents, unbeknownst to him, had tried unsuccessfully to shop just such a book deal.

We can tell you this week that Lowe has new agents. The actor is now represented by the William Morris Agency; he had been represented by the Gersh Agency. Why the switch? Lowe's spokesperson says the attempt to sell a Lowe book "was the final straw" in a relationship Lowe felt wasn't advancing his career.

JANE FONDA'S NOT READY FOR THE ROCKING CHAIR

Jane Fonda, who is in good enough aerobic shape to do it, is backpedaling from a widely printed Associated Press interview she gave last month that seemed to indicate she was retiring from movies to devote more time to new husband Ted Turner and to her multimillion-dollar fitness-video empire. A spokesperson for Fonda Films, her production company, said that although the actress indeed does plan to "ease up on her schedule," she is not dissolving her production company. "If her agent finds a script he thinks is special, she'll consider it," says the rep.